From Publishers WeeklyThe
scrambled, heterogeneous sprawl of mixed-race and immigrant family life
in gritty London nearly overflows the bounds of this stunning,
polymathic debut novel by 23-year-old British writer Smith. Traversing a
broad swath of cultural territory with a perfect ear for the nuances of
identity and social class, Smith harnesses provocative themes of
science, technology, history and religion to her narrative. Hapless
Archibald Jones fights alongside Bengali Muslim Samad Iqbal in the
English army during WWII, and the two develop an unlikely bond that
intensifies when Samad relocates to Archie's native London. Smith traces
the trajectory of their friendship through marriage, parenthood and the
shared disappointments of poverty and deflated dreams, widening the
scope of her novel to include a cast of vibrant characters: Archie's
beautiful Jamaican bride, Clara; Archie and Clara's introspective
daughter, Irie; Samad's embittered wife, Alsana; and Alsana and Samad's
twin sons, Millat and Magid. Torn between the pressures of his new
country and the old religious traditions of his homeland, Samad sends
Magid back to Bangladesh while keeping Millat in England. But Millat
falls into delinquency and then religious extremism, as earnest Magid
becomes an Anglophile with an interest in genetic engineering, a science
that Samad and Millat repudiate. Smith contrasts Samad's faith in
providence with Magid's desire to seize control of the future, involving
all of her characters in a debate concerning past and present,
determinism and accident. The tooth--half root, half protrusion--makes a
perfect trope for the two families at the center of the narrative. A
remarkable examination of the immigrant's experience in a postcolonial
world, Smith's novel recalls the hyper-contemporary yet history-infused
work of Rushdie, sharp-edged, fluorescent and many-faceted. Agent,
Georgia Garrett. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.